


The List

by Hellokaelyn



Series: Quotes/Scenes - Ellick Style [4]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 22:09:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16585151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: Delilah: Ellie you should totally put your name down for this placeBishop: What? Are you crazy? I'm not getting married. I'm not even engaged





	The List

**Author's Note:**

> This one is a little weird as it doesn't really fit, but I tried.

Museum’s weren’t places Ellie really went to but as she found herself walking through the Virginia Arts Museum with Delilah and Abby who was visiting, she couldn’t help but admire how beautiful it was. It wasn’t even the exhibits, it was the building itself that had her amazed. 

They had just walked into one of the huge rooms that had an openness to it when they walked by a woman giving a couple a tour, a couple apparently having their wedding there. 

Ellie felt a little jealous, it may have been a Museum but the area would be beautiful for a wedding. 

“Hey, look.” Abby suddenly said, pulling her out of her thoughts of the perfect wedding here. Abby was pointing to where the woman was standing with the couple. “You can register to get married right here-” Abby looked closer at the stand holding the information. 

Ellie looked too, curious. “Yeah, with a two year wait, this place is pretty popular.”

“Ellie you should totally put your name down for this place.” Delilah said, making Ellie look at her in surprise.

“What? Are you crazy?” She let out an uncomfortable laugh. “I’m not getting married, I’m not even engaged.”

Abby grinned, a sparkle in her eye. “Yeah but there’s a two year wait, what if you get engaged in two years then you’ve got to wait another two years for this place? That’s four years.” Abby and Delilah shared a look that Ellie couldn’t figure out. “Nick’s not gonna wait that long you know? He’ll find someone else, someone who  _ did _ put their name on the list.”

“And-” Delilah added, grinning also. “-It can’t hurt to put your name down. If in two years you’re not engaged, you just don't use it.”

Ellie bit her lip. She knew Abby’s part about Nick was complete bull, especially since it’s not like he’d care about the list, but it  _ was _ true that just because her name was on the list didn’t mean she  _ had _ to get married at that time. 

And the place was perfect.

She sighed. “Well..I guess there’s no harm in putting my name down..”

* * *

Nick sits on the couch in his and Ellie’s apartment reading some car magazine when their home phone (that they only use for non important non work things or if they don’t want someone having their cell numbers) starts to ring. Nick doesn’t bother answering knowing the machine will pick it up...and he didn’t feel like moving. It occurs to him that it could be Ellie who’s cell had broken yesterday which she hadn’t replaced yet, but then she would call his cell not their home phone. 

He shakes his head and focuses back on his magazine, but keeps his ears open to the machine just now picking up the message.

_ “Hi, this is Hildy from the Virginia Arts Museum, I’m calling for Eleanor Bishop. I want to let her know there was a cancellation and if she’s still interested in having the Torres-Bishop wedding in our facility it is available-” _

Nick jumped from the couch, tossing the magazine and running to pick up the phone.  _ Wedding?! _

“This is Nick Torres! This is Nick Torres!” He shouts the second he picks up the phone. The woman Hildy is surprised. 

_ “Oh! The groom?” _

“Yes the groom.” Nick freezes. “No! Not the groom!” 

* * *

Later on Nick is sitting at their kitchen table, his gaze on the phone like it had been for the past however long.

His mind was whirling with so many things he felt a little dizzy.

Ellie had put their names down for their supposed  _ wedding _ , when she was at the Museum. He knew she wanted to get married at some point but he always figured it’d be a while before then, especially since he had let her know before that he wasn’t ready yet no matter how much he loved her. 

It’s not like he had good examples of good marriages. His own parents had an ugly divorce that dragged on for years before they finally made it finale, him smack in the middle of it while Lucia was free from it at college. Then there was the many marriages he seen while undercover, ranging from fake, lying, cheating, abusive. Sure Lucia had a good marriage but he was undercover for a good portion of it. 

And now he and Ellie were suddenly getting  _ married _ ? 

He was so lost in thought he jumped when Ellie walked through the door with a bag of groceries. 

“Hey babe.” She said, Nick felt like he was suffocating.

He jumped up, walking past her towards the door. “See ya!” 

Ellie turns confused. “Wait where are you going? I was gonna make dinner.” 

“Well next time, ask!” He says, his voice a little hysterical. “Or at least wait for me to ask!”

He’s out the door seconds later, not hearing her call after him. 

* * *

Ellie thinks about running after him the second the door slams shut behind him but she knew he sometimes needed time to cool off about things.

For what though, she has no idea. 

She sighed and puts the groceries on the table before going to check the messages on the house phone. A habit she had started doing unlike Nick who mostly ignored the thing. 

_ “One message” _

Ellie looks at the mail placed on the table as she waits.

_ “Hi, this is Hildy from the Virginia Arts Museum, I’m calling for Eleanor Bishop. I want to let her know there was a cancellation and if she’s still interested in having the Torres-Bishop wedding in our facility it is available-” _

The mail falls from her hands as she stares at the machine in horror. Oh no…

“Please he didn’t hear that..” She mumbles to herself, panic in her voice. She didn’t really think when she put their house number on the list, she  _ really _ should have.

_ “This is Nick Torres! This is Nick Torres!”  _ She hears before it cuts off, registering that the phone was picked up.

“No!” Ellie shouts, her hand covering her mouth. Nick, who had told her he wasn’t ready. Nick, who always freaked a little when marriage was mentioned. She had been fine with waiting for him to be ready, she knew it’d happen because as much as he tried to act like commitment freaked him out, his love for her blew that away. For the most part. Ellie honestly didn’t get why the idea of him being married freaked him out like it did, it wasn’t like they planned on breaking up in the future.

She still felt herself panic.  _ That _ was why he ran out of the apartment like he did when she walked in. 

The message had made it seem like Ellie was going to try and pressure him into it when he wasn’t ready and Nick didn’t like not being in control. 

“Crap.” She mumbled, about to call Tim who she knew was still at the Navy Yard to ping Nick’s phone when she noticed it on the kitchen table. Great.

She settled for calling around to ask if they seen or talked to him. 

* * *

Nick walked around in a loss, finding himself walking through the park people watching.

He wasn’t really focused on it though until he saw a family.

A little boy and girl were giggling as they ran around their parents who every now and then would look at their kids and smile but mostly were into each other, their arms wrapped around the other as they practically glowed with love and happiness. 

His heart ached.

Nick wanted that with Ellie.

He  _ wanted _ people to look at them and think about how happy they looked with their family. 

And for the first time, the thought of it all didn’t make him have that twinge of panic in his stomach. 

Nick loved her more then he loved anyone in his life. No matter how much she tried to deny it after Jake, wanted that happily ever after of marriage and kids and Nick went into it with her knowing that, even with his fears. 

Fears that seemed silly now as his eyes followed the family. The wedding rings he could clearly see on their hands. 

Determination filled him in that second. 

He was  _ Nick Torres _ , the guy who faced danger head on, the guy who wasn’t scared to jump into a fight, the guy who risked his life everyday for the job.

Screw his fear of long term and marriage.

Ellie Bishop was worth it.

Nick jogged to the busy street to grab a cab. He had someone to see. 

* * *

Hours later Ellie paced the apartment anxiously waiting for Nick to come back. No one had seen or talked to him, and thankfully none of them asked too many questions probably knowing she wouldn’t answer them anyway. 

So when Nick finally walked through the door slowly and cautiously, she was tempted to burst into tears. 

“I’m so sorry!” Ellie walked over to him, grabbing his hands in hers. “Please stop freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out.” Nick scoffed, though his eyes told a different story. “Why would I be freaking out? A woman named Hildy called to say we were getting married but that happens everyday.”

His voice got higher with each word, and a little more hysterical. 

She swallowed. “We were at this beautiful place and I just put our names down for fun! I mean what’s the harm in that?” 

Nick gives her a wide eyed look as he points to his head. “Right here!”

Ellie grabs his hands again and gives them a squeeze. “Nick, please don’t think I was trying to pressure you. Abby and Delilah just thought that-”

Nick cuts her off. “Abby and Delilah?! So the people who knew about our wedding before me were you, Abby, Delilah, and Hildy!”

“It was a mistake.” Ellie tries telling him, her hands cupping his face. “Please don’t take this to mean anything because it doesn’t.” 

Nick looks to be thinking for a minute as he stares into her eyes. 

“Okay.” He finally says. Ellie tried not to sigh out loud in relief. 

“Really?”

“Yes if it really doesn’t mean anything.” Nick tells her, his voice soft now. “Because you know I’m just not ready…”

“I know, I know.” Ellie says just as soft, wrapping her arms around him in a hug that he wastes no time in returning. The tension in her body relaxing at his touch. 

They stay like that for a bit before she slowly pulls away. “Okay um..since I doubt you ate and I know I didn’t, I’m gonna go pick up dinner instead of cooking.”

Nick looks a little worried at her saying she didn’t eat but doesn’t say anything about it. 

She feels much lighter as she walks out the door to pick up food from the place down the street that they both love. 

* * *

Nick waits a few minutes after she leaves before he grabs his phone off the table where he left it, he has a phone call to make. 

_ “Hey, did she buy it?” _

He finds himself grinning. 

“Completely.” 

He can practically hear Delilah grinning herself through the phone. _ “So did Hildy show you the place?” _

“Yeah..” Nick smiles softly. “Yeah, it’s perfect.”

Delilah lets out a squeal of excitement.  _ “I can’t believe you’re going to ask Ellie to marry you!” _

They didn’t stay on the phone much longer since Ellie wouldn’t be gone long, and he has to keep himself from smiling widely when she comes back.

“I love you.” He tells her later when they’re in bed about to sleep.

Ellie smiles brightly at him, earlier forgotten. Or at least right now because he knows Ellie doesn’t just  _ forget _ . “I love you too.” 

Nick pulls her against him as they go to sleep. 

_ His future wife _ .

As he drifts to sleep, he wonders why he was so scared of it all in the first place. 

**Author's Note:**

> TV Show: Friends


End file.
